Ignition for Education

In a previous post, I examined the structure of knowledge, the formation of knowledge, and the difference between knowledge and opinion, all of which should factor in a discussion of curriculum. But, before I can actually discuss curriculum, I need to examine skills—what they are, and how people acquire them. I also need to examine “creativity,” but I’ll do that in a future post.

A skill is the ability to do something that not everyone can do. Tying your shoelaces is not a skill; we can all do it. But tying nautical knots is a skill. Driving your car to the grocery store does not require skill. Formula One racing does.

Skills are acquired through a combination of hard work and quality instruction. Usually, an instructor is necessary. There are exceptions, of course. Some people become skilled home cooks without ever taking a cookery class. For their instructors, they use recipe books, and perhaps podcasts, online videos, and so on. But has anyone ever learned to paint well without taking classes? Or to play an instrument well?

As a rule, skill acquisition requires a teacher.

It also requires a lot of work. Nobody has ever become skilled at anything without practicing, failing sometimes, taking stock of their mistakes, listening to feedback, and practicing more. And, although people will generally focus on developing skill in fields that they enjoy, they won’t develop skill without working on minutiae that they do not enjoy. A music student may love music, but she probably does not adore practicing scales.

For one of the best assemblies I ever led, I interviewed ten of my colleagues about things that they were good at, from ancient Greek to martial arts. I focused on what they did to build their skills—the parts of the process that they enjoyed, and the parts that they didn’t enjoy but had to go through anyway. I summarized the information for my students and challenged them to guess which teacher had developed each of the ten skills. The main take aways, of course, were that getting good requires work, and that, even if you love the thing that you’re getting good at, you won’t love all of the work that you have to do.

Skill acquisition takes grit.

But to what extent does it also require you to be “a natural,” and what does that even mean? Certainly, any given skill seems to come more naturally to some people than to others. But to what extent is that due to “innate” ability, to something in a person’s genes, perhaps, and to what extent is it due to lateral preparation. If two people learn ping pong (table tennis) for the first time, both working equally hard, and one makes much quicker progress than the other, is that due to innate ability? Or has she been prepared by other activities that trained her reflexes, hand-eye coordination, and other attributes that help with ping pong?

I’m not saying that “nature” has no say in the skill level that a person can reach. I would love to be able to sing, but anyone who has ever heard me try will tell you that no amount of hard work or coaching will ever make it happen. But I do believe that most people overestimate the role of “innate” ability in comparison to the role hard work, grit, persistence, and quality instruction. I also think that this becomes an excuse for laziness–People think that you don’t need to work if you’re naturally gifted, and that there’s no point in working if you are not.

We should bear all of this in mind as we consider the inclusion of skills in the academic curriculum, from basic literacy and numeracy skills to higher-level skills of investigation, analysis, and so on.

But all of this is even more important when we consider the curricular role of the arts, sports, and extra-curricular activities—essential parts of a worthwhile education. These are opportunities for students to choose the skill sets that they will develop, and to work harder and smarter because they freely chose them. They are not just opportunities for students to develop skills but also for them to develop an understanding of what a skill is and how it is acquired. And that will set them up for life better than will any particular skill.